Deception

Quote

Character

Act

“Taking a bag of macaroons from her pocket. She eats one or two, then cautiously to her husband’s door and listens.”

Stage directions

1

“Well, you keep your little Christmas secrets to yourself, Nora darling; I daresay I shall know them all this evening when the Christmas tree’s lighted up.”

Torvald

1

“It’d spoil everything between us, and our lovely happy home would never be the same again.”

Nora

1

“Yes, but these are some that Kristina gave me.”

Nora

1

“No, it was now. I wrote Papa’s name.”

Nora

1

“Now, you’re not to tell anyone about the strange man, do you hear? Not even Papa.”

Nora

1

“Nora, Nora, would you lend yourself to that sort of thing? Talking to a man like that – making him promises? And worst of all, telling me a lie!”

Torvald

1

“A songbird must have a clear voice to sing with – no false notes.”

Torvald

1

“Because an atmosphere of lies that infects and poisons the whole life of a home. In a house like that, every breath that the children take is filled with the germs of evil.”

Torvald

1

“And certainly for years this fellow Krogstad has been going home and poisoning his own children with lies and deceit. That’s why I call him a moral outcast.”

Torvald

1

“In the corner by the piano stands the Christmas tree; it is stripped and dishevelled, with the stumps of burnt-out candles.”

Stage directions

2

“A letter falls into the box. Krogstad’s footsteps are heard fading away down the staircase.”

Stage directions

2

“You mustn’t open any letters – you mustn’t even open the letter-box.”

Nora

2

“Seven hours till midnight. Then twenty-four hours till midnight tomorrow. Then the tarantella will be over. Twenty-four and seven... thirty-one hours to live.”

Nora

2

“Helmer must know the whole story. This wretched secret must be brought into the open so that there’s complete understanding between them. That’d be impossible while there’s so much concealment and subterfuge.”

Mrs Linde

3

“I’ll never tell him. / Mrs Linde: Then the letter will.”

Nora and Mrs Linde